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Sinn Fein votes in favour of official apology to Irishmen who fought Hitler

Party supports Belfast motion in favour of Irish Army deserters

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 7:40 AM
Updated Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 11:03 AM

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Eamon De Valera, Inspecting the Guard of Honor Outside the Post Office in O'Connell Street
Eamon De Valera, Inspecting the Guard of Honor Outside the Post Office in O'Connell Street
Photo by LIFE magazine


Sinn Fein has voted in favor of a pardon for Irish soldiers who deserted to fight with the British Army in the Second World War.

The Republican party supported the motion at the Northern Ireland Assembly calling for an apology and a pardon for those Irishmen who fought with Britain against Hitler’s Germany.

The Republic’s Justice Minister Alan Shatter is currently considering the apology and pardon for the near 6,000 soldiers who deserted the Irish Army to fight in the war.

A motion in support of the pardon was passed unanimously at the Northern Assembly when Sinn Fein joined the SDLP and Alliance Party deputies in supporting a DUP motion which condemned the treatment by the Irish government of the 5,700 deserters.

After the war, many of those who had deserted were placed on an official blacklist which banned them from jobs, benefits, or pensions.

DUP deputy Peter Weir said it is time for a pardon. “I want to show the solidarity of the Northern Ireland Assembly to a very good campaign which has been put forward by people in the Irish Republic to try and get a pardon and indeed honour and recognition for those brave men and women who served the Irish Republic in the Second World War against fascism,” he said.

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“This was very much an abuse of human rights. These were people who were denied employment and welfare which in many cases were enforced with starvation orders where families went hungry as a result of their commitment to the British army.

“I think this is an historic injustice which needs to be embraced.”

Irish senator Mary Ann O’Brien is leading the calls for a pardon in the Republic and has welcomed the vote.

“We are lucky we are not Germany here, because we have to remember that these men deserted the Irish army to join the British army to fight for all of us, for our democracy and our future and for the freedom of Europe,” she stated.

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46 Comments

15 - 46 | See all comments

seanomelb | Feb 01, 2012, 06:03 PM EST
True Dan we've exhausted this one

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DanOLoingsigh | Feb 01, 2012, 02:31 PM EST
seanomelb - I brought up the Carl Gustav, then you decided I was referring to a machine gun...which I wasn't...never seen one of those...so you jumped to the wrong conclusion...not just on that point, either...time to stop digging, I think!!

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seanomelb | Jan 31, 2012, 05:21 PM EST
Gustav small arms (machine gun) you bull is showing again.Combat engineer in the US forces I was right you are full of it.Crawling your way out of a situation which is over your head or just been mischievous.We never mentioned anti Tank weaponsyou miserable little yank know-all.

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DanOLoingsigh | Jan 31, 2012, 06:00 AM EST
Maybe your brain has been a little fried in that Aussie sun? The FN was a SLR, the C Gustav was an effective anti-tank weapon...always firing a single shot projectile...FYI I began as a combat engineer...MGB, Mine clearance, demolition...so wrong again...

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seanomelbourne | Jan 30, 2012, 05:53 PM EST
More invectives from a beaten man. The gustav pulled to the right making it difficult to control,it also was unable to fire single shot.Its replacement the belgian FN was a far superior weapon.You're a bullshit artist and never served in the military.And I repeat you are not Irish, so move on and blog with others who have your limited intellect, George Dillon or gobdawpaddy come to mind.

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DanOLoingsigh | Jan 30, 2012, 03:48 AM EST
A BAD WORKER BLAMES HIS TOOL...maybe you should have spent less time playing with yours?

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seanomelbourne | Jan 29, 2012, 06:07 PM EST
How old are you The "gustav"was sent God and what a usless machine it was. I remember using on the range in Kilcoran shortly before it was retired. You may google Kilcoran if you wish(as you are not Irish). BTW keep those snide remarks coming.

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DanOLoingsigh | Jan 28, 2012, 05:39 PM EST
seanomelbourne – I expect your biggest fight was to get a slice of the Army deafness compo!! You know nothing about me or my military service…and I only have your word for your own…show me your ‘carl gustav’, and I’ll show you mine…

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seanomelbourne | Jan 28, 2012, 05:18 PM EST
Thats right dan! attack an exservice man with a glib remark,What service did you volunteer to join. It's easy to come from left field to avoid answering the question. You never served in the military and you are not Irish.So Dan others have to do the fighting for you and then you cheer at their homecoming parades.A little bit hypocritical maybe?.

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DanOLoingsigh | Jan 28, 2012, 11:48 AM EST
seanomelbourne - 'they did a lousy Job'...this is your comment... men who put themselves 'in harms way' to ensure freedom so the likes of you could insult their memory...oops I forgot, you're a 'war hero' too!!

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seanomelbourne | Jan 27, 2012, 06:17 PM EST
I never questioned anybodies gallantry, here you go again accusing me of comments I did not make. I am an ex serviceman of the Irish defence forcres. What did you do for Ireland? ooops!! I forgot your not Irish.

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DanOLoingsigh | Jan 27, 2012, 01:09 PM EST
Seano – you certainly have some neck, criticising the gallant efforts of the allied navies and air forces in fighting the Battle of the Atlantic (The longest continuous battle of WW2), not forgetting the code-breakers of Bletchley Park, while your ‘heroes’ stayed safe pointlessly guarding some boreen in Donegal or Cavan…as to your other point, I did not ‘wish to have your head blown off’, I merely used your own argument about the rights of natives against interlopers, as you yourself are an interloper in Oz…

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cynicus | Jan 26, 2012, 06:20 PM EST
Whatever their motivation, and I suspect it was young lads anxious to see some action and fighting, rather than wilful desertion and certainly not the high-flying 'treason' bull-dust being expressed by some commentators! If they had stayed at home, and if Ireland had been invaved by any belligerents, the Irish Army would not have stood a chance except to revert to guerilla tactics, hit and run, etc. What I consider much more gutless and 'treasonable to humanity' was the scurrilous activities of the IRA in courting Nazi assistance and resources to attack Britain and, by extension, the Allies during the WW2 - fighting with evil against the small and the big nations, including their own country! Surely, to an unblinkered-by-ignorance observer, these 'deserters' chose the better part and for whatever reason, took on evil and fought it. After all, it is a fact that Ireland depended on Britain and the Allies for protection should the Nazis ever invade. I salute all those who fought the evil of the Nazis; 'desertion' is insignificant in comparison with the good these soldiers did for mankind! Forget the petty parish-pump' craw-thumping- it is disgusting!

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seanomelbourne | Jan 26, 2012, 06:09 PM EST
cynical cynicus

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cynicus | Jan 26, 2012, 06:03 PM EST
So, Sinn Fein agrees! Well, let it be done, so! The only decent and humane apologies I have hear in the last 40 years were (1) Gusty Spence's for the loyalists and (2) The British Government for Bloody Sunday. We wait on Sinn Fein-IRA's apologies! How long must we wait? 40 years?

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